This invention relates to the commercial production of materials such as candies, from strips of material, including but not limited to tacky materials such as licorice, and more specifically to the production of licorice bites.
In the commercial production of licorice, the licorice mix is extruded through orifices to form strips. In a typical case, a group, for example, of fifteen or sixteen strips of licorice each, for example, 54 inches long, are extruded and deposited in parallel manner directly onto a rectangular board for transport, as by a conveyor, through a dryer and then to a further position at which the strips of licorice are lifted from the board and raised to the level of a second conveyor which carries the 54 inch strips to a cutter position at which the strips are severed into "bite" length, for example, one inch.
Licorice strips are made from a mix which includes among its ingredients flour, water, sugar and flavoring. Due largely to the presence in the mix of a substantial quantity of sugar, as the extruded licorice strips pass through the dryer they become tacky and tend to stick to the board on which they are being transported.
In the prior art, the sticky strips of licorice are lifted manually from the board as by the hand of an operator, and are placed and accumulated on a table referred to as a cutting or accumulation table. Strips are then picked up in small quantity groups (one, two or three) and are then manually fed through the cutter.